Ihsan Ali Al-Shehbaz
Encyclopedia
Ihsan Ali Al-Shehbaz, Ph.D.
(born 1939 in Iraq
) is an Iraqi American
botanist who works as Adjunct Professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis and Curator and Head of the Department of Asian Botany at that same university. Al-Shehbaz's primary area of interest is Brassicaceae
and The Durango Herald called him
"a world expert on taxonomy of the family
". A 2008 publication of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
called him "the world's authority on species
in the genus
Lesquerella
". The author abbreviation
"Al-Shehbaz" is attached to the numerous botanical taxa
he has identified.
degree from Baghdad University. He pursued graduate studies in the United States
, gaining a Master of Science
degree from Harvard University
in 1969 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1973.
at Baghdad University, a professor and director of a herbarium at Sulaymaniyah University
in Iran, and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum. In 1992, Al-Shehbaz edited all botanical entries for the third edition of the American Heritage Dictionary. He has worked on major projects about the flora of North America
and, with the help of the Chinese
botanists, the flora of China
. In regard to the latter, Al-Shehbaz said:
of the Brassicaceae family
, especially in the Himalayas
, Central Asia
, and the Americas with emphasis on the South America
n and Chinese
members. He also has an interest in conservation and the preservation of biological diversity. According to Al-Shehbaz, if "we want to have a peaceful world, to live in harmony, we have to know how to cooperate, both with humans and with other species."
Al-Shehbaz has described ten new genera
previously unknown to science. He has described over four hundred plant species
and more than seventy of them were previously unknown. Al-Shehbaz has called botanical science "a race with time to document what's there before it's gone."
Alyssum
, Arabidopsis
, Arabis
, Armoracia, Barbarea
, Boechera
, Draba
(of which he revised many South American members ), Erucastrum
, Nasturtium
, Raphanus
, Rorippa
, Schizopetalon
, Sisymbrium
, and Tropidocarpum
are among the genera in which he has identified plant species. Some specific plant species Al-Shehbaz has identified include Cardamine lojanensis
, Draba ecuadoriana
, and Draba steyermarkii
.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(born 1939 in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
) is an Iraqi American
Iraqi American
Iraqi Americans are Americans of Iraqi descent, including those who are expatriates in exile or permanent immigrants. The number of Iraqi Americans is around 140,000 according to the Arab American Institute....
botanist who works as Adjunct Professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis and Curator and Head of the Department of Asian Botany at that same university. Al-Shehbaz's primary area of interest is Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae, a medium sized and economically important family of flowering plants , are informally known as the mustards, mustard flowers, the crucifers or the cabbage family....
and The Durango Herald called him
"a world expert on taxonomy of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
". A 2008 publication of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...
called him "the world's authority on species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Lesquerella
Lesquerella
Lesquerella is a genus of flowering plants in the familyBrassicaceae. Some are referred to by the common name Bladderpod and bladderpod oil is extracted from the seeds of Lesquerella fendleri and certain other species in the genus....
". The author abbreviation
Author citation (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
"Al-Shehbaz" is attached to the numerous botanical taxa
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
he has identified.
Education
In 1962, Al-Shehbaz earned a Bachelor of ScienceBachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree from Baghdad University. He pursued graduate studies in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, gaining a Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degree from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1969 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1973.
Career
Prior to his current professorial and curatorial position, Al-Shehbaz was a professor and director of an herbariumHerbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
at Baghdad University, a professor and director of a herbarium at Sulaymaniyah University
Sulaymaniyah
Sulaymaniyah is a city in Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq. It is the capital of Sulaymaniyah Governorate. Sulaymaniyah is surrounded by the Azmar Range, Goizja Range and the Qaiwan Range in the north east, Baranan Mountain in the south and the Tasluje Hills in the west. The city has a semi-arid climate with...
in Iran, and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum. In 1992, Al-Shehbaz edited all botanical entries for the third edition of the American Heritage Dictionary. He has worked on major projects about the flora of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and, with the help of the Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
botanists, the flora of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In regard to the latter, Al-Shehbaz said:
By unlocking the knowledge of China's great botanical treasures for the rest of the world, the project brings together hundreds of Chinese and Western scientists for an invaluable exchange of ideas, training, information, and plant specimens. It is an enormous advancement for systematic and applied botany...China's plant species represent a significant percentage of the world's total. If we don't do this kind of research, how will we know what we have and how to protect it?
Academic specialties
Al-Shehbaz's primary academic interests are the phylogeny and systematicsSystematics
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...
of the Brassicaceae family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
, especially in the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, and the Americas with emphasis on the South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n and Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
members. He also has an interest in conservation and the preservation of biological diversity. According to Al-Shehbaz, if "we want to have a peaceful world, to live in harmony, we have to know how to cooperate, both with humans and with other species."
Al-Shehbaz has described ten new genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
previously unknown to science. He has described over four hundred plant species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and more than seventy of them were previously unknown. Al-Shehbaz has called botanical science "a race with time to document what's there before it's gone."
Alyssum
Alyssum
Alyssum is a genus of about 100–170 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region...
, Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains thale cress , one of the model organisms used for studying plant biology and the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced...
, Arabis
Arabis
Arabis , or rockcress, is a genus of flowering plants, within the family Brassicaceae, subfamily Brassicoideae.Though traditionally recognized as a large genus with many Old World and New World members, more recent evaluations of the relationships among these species using genetic data suggest that...
, Armoracia, Barbarea
Barbarea
Barbarea is a genus of about 22 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in southern Europe and southwest Asia.They are small herbaceous biennial or perennial plants with dark green, deeply...
, Boechera
Boechera
Boechera is a genus of the family Brassicaceae. It was named after the Danish botanist Tyge W. Böcher , who was known for his research in alpine plants, including the mustards Draba and Boechera holboellii...
, Draba
Draba
Draba is a large genus of cruciferous plants, commonly known as whitlow-grasses. There are over 400 species:*Draba abajoensis Windham & Al-Shehbaz*Draba × abiskoensis O.E.Schulz*Draba × abiskojokkensis O.E.Schulz...
(of which he revised many South American members ), Erucastrum
Erucastrum
Erucastrum is a genus of flowering plant in the mustard family. There are approximately 18 species. Erucastrum species are known generally as dogmustards.Species include:* Erucastrum gallicum* Erucastrum rostratum...
, Nasturtium
Nasturtium (genus)
Nasturtium is a genus of five plant species in the family Brassicaceae , best known for the edible watercresses Nasturtium microphyllum and Nasturtium officinale...
, Raphanus
Raphanus
Raphanus is a genus within the flowering plant family Brassicaceae. Two or three species are currently classified in Raphanus. They include the cultivated radish, Raphanus sativus and the common wild radish or jointed charlock, R. raphanistrum. Some authors accept the podding or rattail radish, R...
, Rorippa
Rorippa
Rorippa is a flowering plant genus in the cabbage family , containing approximately 80 species native to Europe through central Asia, Africa, and North America. Rorippa species are annual to perennial herbs, usually with yellow flowers and a peppery flavour.Rorippa formerly included several species...
, Schizopetalon
Schizopetalon
Schizopetalon is a genus of the botanical family Brassicaceae....
, Sisymbrium
Sisymbrium
Sisymbrium is a genus of plants in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae.-Selected species:* Sisymbrium altissimum – Jimm Hill Mustard, Tall Rocket, Tall Tumblemustard* Sisymbrium crassifolium* Sisymbrium irio – London Rocket...
, and Tropidocarpum
Tropidocarpum
Tropidocarpum is a genus of flowering plants in the mustard family. There are two to four species, one of which is extremely rare. Tropidocarpum capparideum, the caper-fruited tropidocarpum, is a plant endemic to California generally considered to be extinct since the 1950s, but has been reported...
are among the genera in which he has identified plant species. Some specific plant species Al-Shehbaz has identified include Cardamine lojanensis
Cardamine lojanensis
Cardamine lojanensis is a species of flowering plant in the Brassicaceae family.It is found only in Ecuador.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes and subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland....
, Draba ecuadoriana
Draba ecuadoriana
Draba ecuadoriana is a species of flowering plant in the Brassicaceae family.It is found only in Ecuador.Its natural habitat is rocky areas.It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:* León-Yánez, S. & Pitman, N. 2003. . Downloaded on 20 July 2007....
, and Draba steyermarkii
Draba steyermarkii
Draba steyermarkii is a species of flowering plant in the Brassicaceae family.It is found only in Ecuador.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland....
.
Selected bibliography
- Al-Shehbaz, I. A. 2006. The genus Sisymbrium in South America, with synopses of the genera Chilocardamum, Mostacillastrum, Neuontobotrys, and Polypsecadium (Brassicaceae). Darwiniana 44: 341–358.
- Warwick, S. I., A. Francis & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2006. Brassicaceae: species checklist and database on CD-Rom. Pl. Syst. Evol. 259: 249–258.
- Warwick, S. I. & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2006. Brassicaceae: chromosome number index and database on CD-Rom. Pl. Syst. Evol. 259: 237–248.
- Al-Shehbaz, I. A., M. A. Beilstein & E. A. Kellogg. 2006. Systematics and phylogeny of the Brassicaceae: an overview. Pl. Syst. Evol. 259: 89–120.
- Beilstein, M., I. A. Al-Shehbaz & E. A. Kellogg. 2006. Brassicaceae phylogeny and trichome evolution. Am. J. Bot. 93: 607–619.
- Mitchell-Olds, T., I. A. Al-Shehbaz, M. Koch & T. F. Sharbel. 2005. Crucifer evolution in the post-genomic era. Pp. 119–137 in R. J. Henry, ed., Plant Diversity and Evolution: Genotypic and Phenotypic Variation in Higher Plants. CAB International.
- O’Kane, S. L., Jr. & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2003. Phylogenetic position and generic limits of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae) based on sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 90: 603–612.
- Al-Shehbaz, I. A. 2003. Transfer of most North American species of Arabis to Boechera (Brassicaceae). Novon 13: 381–391.
- Koch, M., I. A. Al-Shehbaz & K. Mummenhoff. 2003. Molecular systematics, evolution, and population biology in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 90: 151–171.
- Appel, O. & I. A. Al-Shehbaz. 2003. Cruciferae. In: K. Kubitzki (editor), Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. 5: 75–174. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.